Should I transfer my SIPP into a regular pension?

robf71

Hi,

I have a SIPP pension but with the recent stock market volitility it has effectively not increased in value this year. Over the last few years it has hardly increased in value at all.

I wanted to know if it's possible to switch from a SIPP back into a standard pension account and should I do so (or should I keep faith with my SIPP).

Thanks,

Rob

ischofie1

A Sipp & PP can invest in much the same assets & it's the assets you are invested in that is critical.
You'll have the full spectrum from safe cash funds to highly volatile equity funds available in your Sipp.
Just a case of selecting where you want to sit on the spectrum to suit your risk profile.
Just be aware that most stock funds have had a tough year or 2.
People who "jump ship" following tough times tend to end up poorer as they're sat in safer assets & miss the return bounce.

Regards.

Linton

The return on a DC pension is determined by what the pension invests in. A SIPP can invest in anything (well almost anything) available via any "standard pension" and probably more, so moving your money from one to the other wont make any difference of itself apart from a possible marginal change in costs.

What funds in what %s is you SIPP invested in?

robf71

ischofie1 wrote: »

A Sipp & PP can invest in much the same assets & it's the assets you are invested in that is critical.
You'll have the full spectrum from safe cash funds to highly volatile equity funds available in your Sipp.
Just a case of selecting where you want to sit on the spectrum to suit your risk profile.
Just be aware that most stock funds have had a tough year or 2.
People who "jump ship" following tough times tend to end up poorer as they're sat in safer assets & miss the return bounce.

Regards.

Thanks. That makes sense. So, I'll look at maybe shuffling my funds into less volatile, more long-term ones and sit tight.

robf71

Linton wrote: »

The return on a DC pension is determined by what the pension invests in. A SIPP can invest in anything (well almost anything) available via any "standard pension" and probably more, so moving your money from one to the other wont make any difference of itself apart from a possible marginal change in costs.

What funds in what %s is you SIPP invested in?

I've tried to use a mix of about six or seven with a real mix. I can see from your reply and the reply from the other poster that perhaps the best thing to do is to ensure that I have the SIPP in steady, long-term growth areas so I think that's what I'm going to do.

RickyB2000

Hmm, but what are steady, long term growth areas? How do you know this? What happens if this time next year these haven't grown either? I actually read the replies to date saying that just because your investment has not grown this year you shouldn't sell up everything and try something new, at least not without understanding your current investments.

I mean if you are only in 7 emerging market funds then yes, you probably need to look again at balancing your portfolio. If you are already in slow growing 'safe' investments that haven't grown looking for even safer investments is probably not going to help.

dunstonh

Pensions do not make or lose money. The investments within the pension do that. The same fund held in a SIPP or a personal pension or a stakeholder pension would have exactly the same returns.

Your comments suggest very low knowledge of investing. So, on that basis, it does seem strange for you to be invested in the experienced investor option where more knowledge and research is required.

It is also worth noting that you have not once mentioned your investments. Just the container for the investments. Yet it is the investments that you are concerned about.

Thanks. That makes sense. So, I'll look at maybe shuffling my funds into less volatile, more long-term ones and sit tight.

Chasing returns is a recipe for lower returns.

What investment strategy are you using? Or is it just random selection with no structure?

perhaps the best thing to do is to ensure that I have the SIPP in steady, long-term growth areas

No such thing exists. Long term growth yes. But steady? This is not how investments work. They zig zag. You get good years, bad years and nothing years. You have to average them out. An economic cycle is around 10 years. You have only invested for about 3 years. Those three years have not been great. However, you dont just take a small snapshot of an economic cycle that you knew would happen and change things because of it.